The Church of St.Anne’s was built by the Gladstone family to celebrate the birth of their son and also so they and their staff could go to church in a location closer to their estate than the nearby St Cyriac’s church in Lacock. Gladstone managed to get a law passed to allow a seperate parish of Bowden Hill to be split off from Lacock and the land on which the church stands was provided by William Henry Fox Talbot of Lacock Abbey. It dates from the second half of the 19th Century and is built on the hill with spectacular views of the surrounding countryside. Years later the area and church was re-combined with Lacock to become the one parish of Lacock with Bowden Hill.

The church has recently undergone a major repair as it was found to be unstable in its position on Bowden Hill. The church was closed for repair from 2021 to July 2024 – the Tower having been dismantled and re-built and a new supporting butress added to the South side.

A treasure-trove of Victorian and Edwardian artistry in glass

The stained-glass windows of St Anne’s Bowden Hill span five of the most celebrated high
Victorian and Edwardian stained-glass workshops.

In chronological order:

1) William Warrington: Original to St Anne’s at its completion for Captain John Neilsen
Gladstone RN (‘JNG’) in 1857, the east window, chancel windows and the central
windows on the north and south sides of the nave are also the simplest. Warrington
apprenticed to his father as a painter of armorial shields, hence the roundels in the east
window. He also mastered the chemistry required to produce pink stained glass. Other
windows of his can be found in Ely and Norwich Cathedrals.

2) John Hardman & Co: The north window nearest the organ is in memory of JNG’s
wife, Elizabeth. He installed it shortly before his own untimely death in January 1863.
Co-founded by Augustus Pugin, this firm was central to Britain’s gothic revival and later
helped start the Arts & Crafts movement. In 1862, when our window was made,
Hardman’s chief designer, Powells, was at his best. The design would have been
considered liberal in its day, with punchy colours and flowing movements. The
weathered faces are probably due to an assistant mixing the stain wrong. Amusingly, the
angel’s green wing-tips in the top roundel were originally mis-assembled, a feature
which has been faithfully preserved.

3) William Wailes made JNG’s memorial window on the south side. Wailes was unique
in his time for his juxtaposition of colours. The orange segments in Jesus’ halo achieves
an almost fluorescent effect, while the pink skirt of Lazarus’ sister in the right-hand
window is again a technical and chromatic marvel. The layers of canopies over each
scene also lend a preciousness and glamour, while the face of the angel in the roundel
above is exceptionally delicate and expressive. The hundreds of individual pieces of glass
are reminiscent of the medieval millefleur style, and yet the look is modern.

4) Clayton & Bell: The west window is dedicated to one of JNG’s middle daughters, Clara.
She died unmarried at the age of 39 in Carlsbad, Bohemia in 1887, four years after the
glassworks had received the Royal Warrant from Queen Victoria. Clara’s siblings
celebrated her life with angel musicians, predominantly in white, black and golden
yellow, a coolly controlled colour palette, sophisticated, with a strong renaissance swell
to the faces, gestures and robes. Yellow was the costliest glass to stain, achieved using
silver, and is seen extensively on the instruments and hair. Windows by Clayton & Bell
are found at King’s and St John’s colleges, Cambridge.

5) Whitefriars (later James Powell and Sons): The south side window at the west
end, opposite the entrance, is in memory of Herbert James Harris, J.P., of Bowden Hill
House. Herbert Harris was churchwarden from 1888 to 1912 and one of the first people
in Lacock to own a motor car. In the latter part of the 19th century, Whitefriars had
worked with Edward Burne-Jones and William de Morgan. They also produced the glass
that Phillip Webb designed for William Morris. The oldest glass window makers in
England, they were nevertheless leaders in glass-staining technology. Our window dates
from 1913 and shows the figure of St George, modelled on a photograph of the statue of
St George by Donatello in Florence. This explains its stiffness and flatness compared
with the earlier windows in the church, whose figures were probably painted from life.

These stained-glass windows were restored in 2015 by Annie Mullholland for Celina Dunlop,
great great granddaughter of Captain John Neilsen Gladstone RN, in memory of her mother.

The Churchyard

The Churchyard at St Anne’s is still open for family burials or those with a connection to the Church. We have a full plan of the graveyard so if you are looking for a grave location please contact info@lacockchurches.org.uk

Parish Records

The older parish records for St Anne’s are held at the Wiltshire History Centre in Chippenham, however we do have a transcript of what they contain held at the church so again for any enquiries please email info@lacockchurches.org.uk